Multiple Marriages
Writers of this period added little to the treatment of the ordination of men who married more than once.426 Nonetheless, a series of decretals reaffirmed the old
423Thomas of Chobham, Summa 7.2.16.7, ed.
Broomfield, pp. 385-87; Salisbury I (1217 ~ 1219) c. 9; Canterbury decree (1225), and Worcester II (1229) c. 60, in Powicke and Cheney 1:62-63, 154-55> 180.424Council of Rouen (1231) e. 11, in Mansi 23:215; Constitutiones cuiusdam episcopi (1225 ~ 1230) c. 35, and Council of Oxford (1222) c. 34, in Powicke and Cheney 1:117, 187; Boelens, “Klerikerehe,” p. 604.
425Tancred to 1 Comp. 3.2.9 v. fornicarias, Caius 28/17, P- 53b> and Admont 22, fol. 33r: “Et certe huiusmodi fornicarie nichil possunt optinere [uel exigere om. A] ab eis nec inter uiuos facta donatione, ar. C. de donat, inter uir. et uxor., Si ancillam [Cod. 5.16.2]1 nec in testamento a clericis, sed quod relictum est fisco, id est ecclesie, apÂplicabitur, ar. ff. de dona, inter uir. et uxo., cum hic status [Dig. 24.1.32] in fi.; sed nec a militibus nisi iure militari testantur, alias optinere possunt quod eis relinquerunt, ar. ff. de his que ut indig. habetur, aufertur, mulierem [Dig. 34.9.2, 14]; in aliis autem omÂnibus optinet quod dicit lex, quia inhonestes donaciones affectionis gratia, ut circa merÂetrices, non sunt prohibite, ff. de donati., affectionis [Dig. 39.5.5]. Iaufrentiusj." SimiÂlarly, Damasus, Questiones in Vat. Borgh. lat. 261, fol. 33vb-34ra, disallowed gifts to the concubines of clerics.
426E.g., BernardofPavia, Summa decretalium 1.13.1, 4.22.1, 5.13.12, ed. Laspeyres, pp. 15, 194, 230; Johannes Teutonicus, Glos. ord. to C. 31 q. 1 c. 8 v. ducunt; Benen- casa, Casus to C. 31 q. 1 c. 8. The gloss to C. 27 q. 1 c. 24 in Caius 283/676, fol.
179vb, distinguishes six kinds of bigamists: “Reputatur bigamus: Qui 2. Iegitimas habuit uxores, 26 Nemo [fortasse D. 32 c. 12?]; qui unam legitimam et aliam illegitimam, 31 q. 1 Quomodo [c. 10]; bruta alia, 32. q. 1 Nuptie [c. 12]; qui bis baptizatur, infra de con. 4 Quis bis [c. 117]; qui post nuptias spirituales carnales contraxit, hic; cuius uxor adulterÂata est, 34 si cuius [c. 11], uel qui uiduam duxit, 34 Si quis uiduam [c. 13].” A similar list appears in a gloss to 2 Comp. 1.11, Caius 44/150, fol. 85v. Johannes Teutonicus noted rules and clarified minor problems of interpretation.'127 Inconsistencies conÂtinued to abound. Innocent III, for example, held that the survivor of an unconÂsummated marriage did not commit digamy if he remarried, but Alanus mainÂtained that even premarital relations with a woman whom one later married were regarded as digamous and, in fact, constituted canonical bigamy.[1562] [1563] [1564] This predilection for seeing sexual relationships as a central issue in determining eliÂgibility for ordination resulted from the belief that sex imparted spiritual pollution.Since the-ban on the ordination of men who had engaged in multiple sexual relationships rested on apostolic authority, the power to dispense from it was problematical. Richardus Anglicus believed that the pope or any bishop could dispense candidates for ordination up to the rank of subdeacon from the irreguÂlarity of bigamy, but that no one, including the pope, could dispense for ordinaÂtion beyond that point. Tancred was less sure. He thought that the pope might be able to dispense candidates for ordination to higher orders, since the pope had greater administrative authority than St. Paul had enjoyed.[1565]
Robert of Flamborough s discussion of a case involving a cleric who was marÂried four times illustrates the complications latent in these situations. The cleric’s first union was with a nine-year-old girl, with whom he could not have intercourse.
Next, he was forced to marry an older virgin, with whom he lived and had sexual relations up to the time of her death. After his second wife died, the cleric married another virgin, voluntarily this time, and lived with her until she died. Subsequently he married a widow, but never had sex with her. After the death of his fourth wife he sought ordination. Robert analyzed this case at length and concluded that the cleric could be validly ordained, since he did not “divide his flesh” and hence was not a bigamist, despite four ventures into matÂrimony and despite the fact that he had sexual relations with two of his wives.[1566]As for simultaneous bigamy (that is marriage to two spouses at the same time, as opposed to constructive bigamy, or marriage to two spouses sequenÂtially), the canonists agreed that it was unlawful and immoral—save when the practice was permitted by divine inspiration. In that case, in the words of Al- anus Anglicus, “sex with the second wife or concubine was allowed by a divine miracle, although it would be contrary to the natural law.”[1567]
The canonists’ main concern with second and subsequent marriages was to assure that they were contracted freely and not dictated by family or feudal lords. The marriages of widows who held property in fee posed particularly acute difficulties. The lord commonly claimed not only the right to require the widow to remarry, but also to select her husband. Family members also often opposed these marriages.[1568] Canonists criticized those who tried to restrict eiÂther the widow’s right to determine whether she would remarry at all or her right to a free choice of marriage partner.[1569]
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